After word spread last week that the state oil and gas supervisor had stepped down, once the Newsom administration thanked him for his service and the industry lamented the influence of politics on the position, environmental justice activists stepped up to take a little credit.

Local Republican leaders stood by Rep. Kevin McCarthy after his failure Tuesday to win enough votes to become speaker of the House, and even Kern’s top Democrat predicted Bakersfield’s most powerful politician will eventually claim the gavel, as consensus emerged that the televised balloting…

Several days after the end of Kern County’s recount of November 2022 ballots, state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, announced Tuesday her campaign will seek a count of its own.

The Kern County Elections Office announced there is no change in the outcome of its earlier results for the state Senate District 16 race after a recount was requested two weeks ago and finished Wednesday.

Recounts in three of the four counties in state Senate District 16 remain in various stages of completion this week, with two all but finished, one expected to wrap up shortly after the holiday weekend and another yet to begin, election officials said Friday.

Dr. Jasmeet Bains, ahead by 21 percentage points and more than 12,000 votes two weeks after the general election, declared victory Tuesday over Leticia Perez in the two-Democrat race to represent California's 35th Assembly District.

Brian Smith conceded defeat Monday night in the race for the 3rd District Kern County Board of Supervisors seat, leaving opponent Jeff Flores the apparent winner with 52.51 percent of 39,916 ballots counted as of earlier in the day.

The Kern County Elections Office released its latest round of returns Friday since its last election update Tuesday afternoon.

The Kern County Elections Division on Tuesday updated its ongoing count of ballots from the Nov. 8 general election.

For Flor Alvarado, being a farmworker is to understand endurance.

The Kern County Elections Division released its first big batch of returns since its election night count Friday afternoon.

After an election night marked by statewide victories for moderate Democrats, one of the San Joaquin Valley’s biggest agricultural water districts assessed how best to maintain its influence.

Kern County has an estimated 106,683 unprocessed ballots still to be processed from Tuesday's General Election, according to Mary Bedard, Kern County clerk and registrar of voters.

Rep. David Valadao extended his lead Wednesday over Assemblyman Rudy Salas in the race for California's 22nd Congressional District seat.

Rep. David Valadao pulled ahead of his Democratic challenger, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, in early results Tuesday night in the hard-fought race for California's 22nd Congressional District seat.

As of late Tuesday evening, with 102 of the 143 precincts' votes counted, Jeff Flores has taken an early lead against Brian Smith.

After winning the primary by nearly 14 percent, Republican candidate David Shepard is hopeful the trend continues, but he'll likely have to wait at least a few days to find out. 

After months of talk about public safety issues, homelessness and road safety — which most candidates discussed as their pressing concerns for Bakersfield leading up to Tuesday — the voters have cast their ballots. 

State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, had found great confidence when gaining her win by a large margin against Susanne Gundy after the June primary.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy took a strong lead over Democratic schoolteacher Marisa Wood in balloting Tuesday for California's 20th Congressional District seat.

It's too early to call three separate races that could have a major impact on one of the state's largest high school districts.

Trustees for Areas 2 and 4, somewhat in the middle of the district's boundaries, were on the ballot.

The polls are open Tuesday, Kern County, and another election cycle is here.

Kern voters will probably notice at least a couple of differences when they head to the polls as part of the county’s efforts to modernize.

Homelessness. Crime. Social services that struggle to keep up with growing needs.

Voters in the city of Bakersfield have been mailed a supplement to Kern County’s Voter Information Guide because the text of the city’s Measure L was not included in the pamphlet sent prior to issuance of mail-in ballots earlier this month.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, unbowed in the face of local criticism while speaking to hundreds Friday morning during a surprise visit to Bakersfield, praised efforts in Kern to develop cutting-edge clean energy technologies that serve California's ambitious climate goals for transitioning away from pe…

Few things agitate drivers — and make politicians sweat — like rising prices at the pump.

TEHACHAPI — Ballot errors have been identified on at least three measures coming before some Tehachapi area voters on Nov. 8.

On an already-hot Saturday morning in east Bakersfield, Assembly candidate and Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez stands at the front of the electrical workers’ local union hall, working a crowd of fellow Democrats ready to knock on doors and talk to voters.

Kern elections officials said Monday that mail-in ballots for the Nov. 8 election were sent out last week to all actively registered voters in the county.

If intensity of effort is any indication, the race for Kern County's 3rd District Board of Supervisors seat must be a close one.

The crime spiral starts small, California attorney general candidate Nathan Hochman said. A criminal goes into a store, steals just shy of $950 in goods from a small business and walks, not runs out, because the lawbreaker knows he won't be prosecuted.

A fentanyl crisis, campus incidents filmed and shared on social media and questions about partisan politics are a few of the topics that have come up in the discussion about the future of the Kern High School District.

State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, is hoping voters on Nov. 8 will send her back to Sacramento, where she plans to continue work done on behalf of the 14th District for the nearby, newly redrawn 16th District.

It takes faith to go up against a dominant incumbent in a district where registration numbers alone point to another landslide. Schoolteacher Marisa Wood says she has that faith.

In the big race for California's 22nd Congressional District seat, surely there's a lesson to be learned from the results of the June primary. But which lesson?